Vaping, why not… but only if it’s regarding quitting smoking. This is essentially the message delivered by the association “Respiratory Health France” whose president, Dr. François le Guillou, a pulmonologist in the Var, denounces the new uses of electronic cigarettes, especially among young people.
Should doctors encourage the use of electronic cigarettes?
Initially in 2016, the High Council for Public Health had issued a rather favorable opinion, at least in the context of smoking cessation, before backtracking and indicating that doctors cannot recommend it. It’s a bit removed from the reality of things; but, it is true that, compared to other nicotine substitutes, which are drugs evaluated as such, the electronic cigarette is only a common consumer good of which we do not know all the effects on health.
However, it is much less toxic than tobacco?
Yes, it drastically reduces exposure to tobacco toxins, as indicated in an article published by the Prevention Observatory. It is a product heated with inhalants, some of which are necessarily irritating, but there are no combustion products, as in tobacco. However, it is these substances generated by the combustion of tobacco that cause the health problems associated with smoking. There is less than 1% of these tobacco toxins in the electronic cigarette. It therefore presents infinitely less risk than cigarettes, even if less toxic does not mean “non-toxic”. A single poison can be enough!
So should we limit its use?
It is indeed difficult to recommend electronic cigarettes in general. But that doesn’t mean you have to put the brakes on, say, someone who is considering quitting smoking by switching to vaping. On the contrary. However, this remains an individual decision, following a doctor-patient face-to-face meeting. And in the long term, we must keep in mind that we will also have to wean ourselves off the electronic cigarette!
Nicotine, then?
Yes, because it is nicotine that creates addiction. In the context of weaning from electronic cigarettes, the dose is reduced little by little, down to zero. But it is enough to give a little bit to reactivate the addictive memory.
Can vaping nicotine create addiction in a non-smoker?
Absolutely! The problem is that the electronic cigarette is not used only by smokers seeking smoking cessation. We have seen the appearance of new products, puffs, these single-use, flavored electronic cigarettes, which are a hit – it is the case to say – among young people. But they contain nicotine, which creates addiction. It’s extremely perverse as a system! Nicotine does not change the taste, it just creates an addiction! If we put it in these products, there is a bad intention. Why create an addiction in people who are not smokers to begin with?
The use of electronic cigarettes for non-smokers should therefore be banned?
Apart from quitting smoking, and for a limited time as much as possible, the use of electronic cigarettes is not necessary!
